


Morty vs. Red

by Snowden



Series: Olivine Canon [8]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Action, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 03:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6407818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowden/pseuds/Snowden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reigning world champion shows up in Ecruteak Gym to continue his Johto Gym Leader challenge. Gym Leader Morty prepares to face the daunting task of toppling Red, with neither side understanding the implications of the battle for the other.<br/>Part of the Olivine Romance series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morty vs. Red

I eyed him coldly. He was back here sooner than expected.

“You want a postponement?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“No. I won’t accept that.”

“Come on. You’re world champ, you could afford a little patience.”

“You were missing when I came here two weeks ago, and then the Mahogany Gym Leader was out of commission when I got there, and I had to wait a week for his replacement to show up. I’m sick of waiting, and I don’t have time. We’re going to battle today. Right now.”

As I feared. The guy’s a self-absorbed dick. I don’t see what the rest of the world sees in him.

Red. Six months ago, he became the youngest trainer to hoist the Crystal Ball, the trophy for winning the global championship tournament. Let’s reiterate. There are over _six-hundred million_ registered trainers in the world. This guy, standing right in front of me, stands over _all_ of them.

I’m just Morty Matsuba, slightly-above-average Gym Leader of Ecruteak City who doesn’t take his job seriously. What chance do I have?

A couple weeks ago, I wouldn’t have taken this battle seriously at all. I would have fronted my three junior Gastly and told them to make faces at Red while his Pokemon splattered them. That’s changed now. I’ve got to take this seriously. I’ve got to win.

“Tell me, before we get down to this, why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Doing what?” he asked.

“Why the Gym Challenge? I did some research, you shouldn’t need this. You already won the Kanto League, you’ve got auto-entrance into any of the super-regionals. Picking on us Johto leaders is way, way beneath you.”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“Does it have to do with Stone?”

He frowned.

“It’s none of your concern,” he repeated, more forcefully.

What a sour guy.

“Fine, fine. Well, you know how good you are. Don’t complain if I have to resort to some unsportsmanlike things to win. And I am gonna win this.”

_For her sake._

I led Red across the invisible floor to the arena. My Gym’s set up so that challengers have to cross an invisible walkway to reach my place, battling my subordinates along the way. League Rules say I can have obstacles and puzzles in my gym, they just have to have a legal solution. That didn’t stop me from cranking the difficulty all the way to the max: max maze complexity, invisible walls, shifting gaps, tiered secrets, keyed pathways. And guess what- none of that stopped him from breezing through it like Gengar through an ice cream scoop. My Gym Trainers fared no better, each and every Pokemon dismissed with a single Psychic from his Espeon.

“You got a preference for battle format?”

“I’d like this to be over as quick as possible.”

“Six-on-six, double battle it is,” I said.

“Are you kidding?”

“I’m dead serious.”

“Fine. I’m tired of talking. Let’s get this done.”

I swear I’ll make you sweat.

“Gengar! Mismagius!”

My Pokemon rose out of their Pokeballs.

Gengar was psyched. He’d been looking forward to this battle. Mismagius was intimidated. She backed off a bit, letting Gengar take the lead.

“Thunderbolt.”

“ _Pika!_ ”

Shit! Fast!

“Dodge!”

Gengar squished himself sideways into a flat 2d pancake, barely dodging the incinerating bolt of lightning. Mismagius was caught off-guard and took the Electric attack in the face. She dropped down, smoke coming off her singed cap.

“Thunder Wave.”

The bastard isn’t even giving me time to switch!

“Ground!”

Gengar merged into the ground. The wide-area paralyzing pulse bounced off the force field that made up the floor.

“Dusknoir!”

“Thunder.”

Dusknoir skittered about, but didn’t see the attack arcing in from overhead. It roasted him in one shot.

“Shadow Sneak,” I said, belting off my first actual attack command. Gengar slithered towards the opponent under the cover of the floor plane.

Only then did I realize, Red had only one Pokemon on the field- his Pikachu.

Is he purposely going at me one-on-two?! Is he crazy? Or just that fucking arrogant?!?!

“Thunder.”

Pikachu called in another aerial bombardment of electrons, this time aiming at its own location. Gengar realized the danger before I did and backed off.

I gritted my teeth.

As long as Gengar remains below the floor, Pikachu can’t hit him. Time to play dirty.

“Gengar, Psychic.”

“Light Screen.”

Got him.

Gengar’s eyes lit up in violet. An aura of warped time-space surrounded Pikachu. Pikachu sparkled, covering its entire body in a glowing sheen.

Then the floor opened up.

“What the?” Red uttered, as his rodent fell through a gaping hole in the ground.

I pumped my fist.

My battle arena has the standard force field to make sure random attacks don’t go off-target and hit the audience. However, I’ve modified it, so that the bottom plane is always solid and functions as the arena’s floor. Beneath it is nothing, just open air, all the way to the darkened basement of instant doom (well, capture fields prevent Pokemon from actually hitting the floor and splattering, so…). To the audience, it looks like the Pokemon are walking on air and fighting in a black void.

“Falling into the pit is an auto-TKO. One down!” I exclaimed.

I was premature.

Pikachu, in mid-air, created another Light Screen, this one a flat shield, directly beneath it. It then blasted the screen with a full-power, point-blank Thunder. The concussive force was enough to knock out half its health, but it also sent it rocketing upwards and back to safety.

“Gengar, close-!” Gengar knew. He tried closing the hole and trapping Pikachu beneath the floor, but the damn thing was too fast; it blasted out of the opening and back to the gravity-correct side of the arena a second before the hole snapped shut.

“Pikachu, get dancing.”

Pikachu used Agility and Double Team in tandem, flittering across the arena. Gengar continued to use Psychic, but in vain. Holes appeared in the floor one after another, but the lightning rodent was always one, or ten, or twenty steps ahead.

“He’s modified the field to allow his Gengar’s Psychic to interfere with it. The area of effect is limited to just four feet, though, because it doesn’t have STAB. Keep moving and you’ll be safe.”

Gengar tried anticipating where Pikachu would run to and opened holes there, but the opponent’s reflexes were too good- it dodged aside or leapt over.

“Gengar, Psychic Two! Sableye!” I called out my fourth Pokemon.

“Wall ahead,” Red said.

Pikachu twirled in midair, planted its feet, and hit an invisible wall. It rebounded off the surface, backwards, against another unseen surface, and off that as well. It wall-jumped up and out of the box surrounding it.

“Gengar, you forgot the roof!”

I was exasperated. First, at my Pokemon, for the small oversight that might have just cost us a victory. Second, that Red would anticipate this tactic at all. Was it that easy to guess, if Gengar could open holes in the force field with his Psychic, he could also shape the force field into walls? Damn, the champ is smart.

“Even if he knows the strategy, he can’t keep up with the tactics,” I reminded myself. “Sableye, Detect!”

Sableye’s eye twinkled. She hopped out of the way, faster than her natural reflexes could account for, just as a Thunderbolt landed.

“Volt Tackle.”

“Psychic Three! Sucker Punch!”

Pikachu raced towards Sableye. Gengar chased it. Sableye stood her ground, fist balled.

Pikachu crashed into Sableye, its electrical discharge exploding. Sableye buckled under the force, deforming into a puddled mass of jello. It looked like my Pokemon was destroyed.

“Substitute?” Red wondered aloud, surprised.

“Nope.”

The gelatinous mass that was Sableye quivered, and then sprung to life. It engulfed Pikachu, wrapping it up like a cocoon. The rodent was utterly trapped, unable to even let off a Thunder Shock.

“Oh.”

Holes, walls, Sableye-like doppelgangers- Gengar’s control over the force fields could create any shape imaginable. This included a set of parallel panes that acted like a mirror. The real Sableye peaked out behind its illusory cover.

“Got it! Now let’s finish it!” I exclaimed. “Gengar, open a hole, drop the sucker down.”

“ _Genga!_ ”

He’s tired, too many Psychics in too short a span. It’s not his natural type, he can’t spam the attack.

“Well just catch your breath and then drop it! Or better yet, Sableye, Knock-Off!”

Sableye waddled over. She was pretty slow though. Eh. Oh well. Either way, that’s two ways to finish Pikachu, and the thing was trapped.

“Sableye is too far away for that mirror to be Gengar’s doing. It must have used its own Psychic, which means the force field can’t be fine-tuned to just Gengar’s internal psychometrics,” Red said calmly. There was a flash. “Iron Tail.”

“What?”

Gengar’s eyes bulged. He saw the electric rodent free and flying at him. He tried countering, a Psychic-induced wall with a hole in front of it, impressive for the 1.5 seconds he had to react. Yet, Pikachu effortlessly sprinted over the hole, through the wall, and smacked Gengar in the face with its tail. It’s as if the force field obstacles weren’t even there.

“Shadow Ball!”

Gengar was flying backwards. He clipped the ground with his claw to right himself, used Psychic to create a landing pad, landed, launched forwards, and readied his signature attack, all in one acrobatic motion.

“Iron Tail. Dazzling Gleam.”

I was caught looking two ways, and couldn’t react to either. Pikachu’s hardened tail slammed through the Shadow Ball and crashed into Gengar. My ghost was knocked to the floor. A sunset-tinged ray of light burst across the arena, striking a surprised Sableye.

Before I knew what happened, both of my Pokemon were down and out.

On Red’s side of the arena, an Espeon stood proudly.

“Huh? What happened?”

“I guess I’ll explain it to you. I reasoned if two different Ghost-types could manipulate the shield, then you must not have set the interference peak very strictly, so a Psychic-type would have no trouble manipulating it. Espeon freed Pikachu and nullified Gengar’s defenses.”

Damn. It. All.

The bastard’s not a world champ for nothing. Your average hot-shot Gym Challenger shouldn’t have this kind of know-how. Shield generator physics are not supposed to be public knowledge.

I let out a deep breath.

Well, I forced him to use two Pokemon, that’s a moral victory.

“Good thing that wasn’t my ace,” I said.

“What are you talking about? Gengar is your strongest Pokemon,” Red said, the smallest trace of concern hinting through. Like any good competitor, he’s wary of unknowns.

I nodded, smiling to myself.

“I knew you were coming, and I’m not so stupid as to believe I could win this fairly.”

“”Fairly”? You rigged your arena to work in your favor, that’s borderline cheating already. What else have you got?”

“I called in favors. It’s good to have friends in high places.”

I could laugh.

There’s only a handful of people who could claim to be better than Red. I had the (un)lucky fortune to have another world champion as my high school sempai.

“Suicune. Darkrai. Go.”

I let out a pair of Master Balls.

On cue, out popped a pair of legendary Pokemon. One sleek, the other jagged, but both exuding power and confidence. Deploying these creatures was not something I do lightly- I can’t control them. When I give a command, I’m only asking (begging) them to do what I want them to do. I wouldn’t be going this far if the stakes weren’t so damn high.

“Ohhh.”

Red’s face lit up in surprise. He inhaled. Surprised, but not shocked. He didn’t to hesitate.

“Thunderbolt. Dazzling Gleam. Max power.”

“Dark Void.”

Suicune jumped in and bore the brunt of both attacks. It was sturdy enough to tank both without fainting, even the super-effective Thunderbolt. Darkrai rose above its partner and unleashed a wave of nether not quite belonging to this universe. The attack swept over Pikachu, instantly putting the creature to sleep. It hit Espeon and refracted. Crap, Magic Bounce- but the reflected wave was also blocked by Suicune. I let out a sigh of relief. Suicune can use Sleep Talk, this isn’t a big hindrance.

“Darkrai, thank you. Finish the Psychic-type with a Dark Pulse, please.” Like the Gym Leader Tournament, Darkrai was slow to comply.

“Retreat, both of you.” Red recalled his Pokemon to him. He readied another Pokeball. “I expected this from you, Morty. You were like this back then, too. So I guess it was a good idea to bring this, even if I didn’t want to use it.”

Red launched his Pokeball.

…

What.

The hell.

Just happened?

All I saw was smoke, and bright, rainbow-colored light. Something had belched off a Smokescreen. When the dust cleared, Red has his sleeping Pikachu back on the field. My borrowed legendaries were slumped against two separate corners of the arena, out cold.

“Comp, show me that again.”

Useless. The replay just showed what I saw, Smokescreen, whorls of energy, a crashing sound, and then Suicune and Darkrai flying out of the ash cloud.

“Comp, show me what Pokemon Red used.”

I stared at the computer’s answer. My eyes widened.

**Null.**

**Information not available.**

“How the hell?” I muttered.

“I’ve got friends in high places too,” Red said as he nursed his Pikachu back to wakefulness.

“Comp, what’s going on? Why can’t I access his data?”

**Executive override. Classified.**

“You’re kidding. Stone… he’s covering for you?”

“Not Stone. Another friend.”

I pinged my knowledge base, searching for someone with more authority than the League CEO and ties to the champ. I settled on only one possibility.

“Oak.”

Red nodded.

“Sorry for the theatrics. I wanted to keep this secret for as long as possible. I might need it for the tournament.”

“I’ve got a way to find you out,” I grouched.

“Really?”

I tapped my forehead.

“I could-” I started, but halted.

Hey Morty, remember what usually happens when you do things without thinking? Remember what happens when you use your precog ability?

It backfires. Badly.

You don’t need to know Red’s secret that badly. Look at what happened when you tried to pry her secret out, it ended up a massive clusterfuck that you still don’t know how to fix.

Go talk to Tobias, he’ll probably know something about Red’s secret.

“I’ve got to admit, you Johto leaders are really clever, you’ve given me a tough time. It’s just, my Pokemon are stronger, and I’ve over-prepared for this.” Red walked over and stretched out his hand. I took out a Gym Badge, hesitating. He tilted his head, annoyed.

“Yeah, okay. You won, grats.” I flicked the little ghost-symbol over to him. It was off-target, but he still managed to snatch it out of the air. Pikachu celebrated with a little hop and dance. As the champ was leaving, I called out.

“Hey!”

“What now?”

“Where are you going next?”

“Olivine, to get my seventh badge.”

“Why not Cianwood?”

“Why Cianwood? Olivine is on the way.”

“I’m just saying, the Olivine girl is the toughest in Johto. You might want to practice against Chuck first, tune up.”

“No thanks. I’m in a hurry. Besides… never mind. None of your business. I don’t think I’ll have a problem, but thanks anyways.” He stiffened, as if something had come to mind. “Are you trying to protect her?” he asked.

“Well, yeah. She’s on probation, and a loss wouldn’t help her. Think you could do her a favor and hold off a bit? Till, like, after Christmas?” I forget when exactly her probation ended.

“Why are you looking out for her?”

“She’s a fellow Johto leader, we look out for each other,” I lied. “You want in our club? It’s like family. It’s fun. We’ll treat you nice. Just do me this one tiny favor.”

“No, I can’t.”

“But her career’s on the line. Give her a break.”

“My FUTURE is on the line!”

I was taken aback. He’s shaking. He’s got his fist balled. This is the first time I’ve seen real emotion from the man.

“ _Pikaaa._ ” His Pikachu looked up at him, forlornly, as if in empathy.

“If I don’t do this… he’ll win.” Red held up his hand, a Pokeball in his palm, fingers nestled around it.

“He’s got everyone in his pocket. He’s treating us all like… like _Pokemon_.” His grip tightened into a vice. His arm shivered. Anger? Frustration? Fear? It was hard to tell.

“What is your deal?” I asked.

“I can’t help your friend. If she wants to blame someone, blame Stone. It’s his egomania that’s driving all this. The man thinks he can have everything his way. I won’t let him. I want my own future. I want to fix the world my way. Not his.”

I sighed.

“Seriously, I’m sick and tired of people not telling me what the hell is their problem! Would it kill you to wait a few days?!” But Red wasn’t listening, he was already walking through the exit.

“Damn it, shit, fuck, and piss,” I cursed without thought or creativity. “I’d better tell her.”

She’s mad at me. She has every right to be.

There’s a 98% chance she’ll refuse to listen. I’ve got to try, though. This isn’t about me and her, or the whole match-maker plan, or anything like that. This is about her career, her finances, her livelihood. I can’t go fucking that up too. She’ll definitely want to know about the storm that’s coming straight at her. I can do that much for her.

I went for the phone, and dialed in.

“Hello?”

“Hey, is Jasmine there?”

**Author's Note:**

> I lied. Here's another side-story. It was pretty easy to write, and I wanted to get something out before my sister's wedding consumed my free time like a Snorlax in a Chinese buffet.
> 
> P.S. I'm rushing this one out without editing, so if there's typos, please forgive them, I'll get to cleaning it up soon.


End file.
